


You know you talked in your sleep?

by Kiranay



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Confessions, F/M, Fluff, Sleepwalking, a sleepy confession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-13 17:25:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5710852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiranay/pseuds/Kiranay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a brief time after Charlotte became Sentinel and came back for her "tin can". There's no telling what the brotherhood has in store for her next, so there's only one thing left to do. She's not sure if she's totally ready, but her subconscious is. What happens when a dream isn't just a dream?</p>
            </blockquote>





	You know you talked in your sleep?

**Author's Note:**

> This is the updated version of a story I made on FF. This hooks in with my other story, And the Commonwealth wept, specifically being the precursor to the journal entry from May 2, 2288. If you haven't read that, don't worry too much. This could be seen as a stand-alone.
> 
> A slight warning for very faints hints of rape.

It must have been around three in the morning when he awoke to the clap of thunder. They'd made camp a few hours before in this old, worn down cottage, a few miles north-west of the Bravo listening post. Normally Danse would never fall asleep in a place like this, but Charlotte had demanded it (to the point where she placed traps outside). Something in him had wanted to follow her ever since she came back for him after being promoted to Paladin. The woman now had a superior position to him, at least that’s how he took it. After discarding the man from the Brotherhood, Maxson swiftly had Charlotte placed into the empty position before moving on to Sentinel two months later. She never really mentioned to him what exactly happened once she returned to the Prydwen after his banishment, not that it bothered him but she was acting a hair-bit differently. Her eyes would meet his with ease if they talked about anything but the brotherhood. There was a million questions he wanted to ask her. No soldier came back from just visiting her crew and getting new orders with the look of despair she had. Even when commanded to go murder him she had held a more promising look.

He could see it in her eyes and how her hands seemed agitated, always needing to do something. It was a nervous habit of hers that he'd recognized the day they cleared Arcjet together, but since she'd returned from her mission briefing had increased ten-fold. If he was a different man, Danse might have guessed Arthur did something to her. No one else on board had the guts to even test her. The very thought that the man would do something to degrade her made his skin crawl and part of him almost wanted to go take on the Elder himself.

The storm outside the rickety cottage must have come in suddenly. It definitely wasn’t there when he began to doze off and that was what, about one? At least it wasn’t a radiation storm, god knows they’d been through enough of those. He wasn’t sure that they had enough rad-x to cover both of them to get through one. For the time being, he’d just have to put it down in his head for when they could come across a trader.

Charlotte had picked him up with the intention of going to look for parts to repair Liberty Prime. He supposed that he ought to try and persuade her into stretching the trip out a few days. Maybe that would ease her stress a little. Knowing that woman, the synth was pretty sure she’d find a way to wiggle out of it. When he first met her, he never knew what power could come from that shy little smile. If she put her heart into it she could get an army fired up to take on the Commonwealth, hell maybe even the Capitol Wasteland. Her persuasion skills were unmatched with anyone else he’d ever met. He knew she’d be a perfect candidate for Elder one day.

The way things were going she’d be done looking for the supplies and back to the Prydwen in less than three days. That wouldn’t be enough to help her. Danse saw what happened when she stressed before about different things like getting things set to teleport to the Institute. The only difference now was that her head wasn’t running the same. She looked partially broken, and he couldn’t even finish the battle with her. If he dared to show his face near the airport he’d be shot on sight. The most he could do now is sit and watch.

_“One more tomorrooow.. to see heaven in your eyes.”_

He chuckled a second to himself. How ironic. They both hated that song, but at that moment and place it brought him a sliver of comfort. He was not okay with thinking she might never come back from the final assault but her reasoning was greater. She’d told him why when they first began traveling together months before, back when she was just a knight. They were settling in for the night in one of the houses of Sanctuary when she noticed it was playing and promptly turned off the radio. Her face was similar to what it had been when she sought him out once more. She shook her head and turned away from him. _“Damn thing sounds like a funeral.”_ Her voice was small but he could pick up some cracks in it. Had they been closer at the time, the former Paladin would’ve held her. He knew that she cried herself to sleep that night, but he couldn’t figure out how or if he should help her. In the morning she promptly apologized, and told him more of her husband. Nate had been his name. They met while he was on leave from the army and the couple quickly married. He returned home not long later after a medical discharge. She told him of how great he was to her, keeping the fort together while she worked as a Prosecutor, always keeping her and their son safe. The whole story made the synth jealous, even if he didn’t recognize it then.

‘CRACK’

Something suddenly seemed amiss and out of the corner of his eye, Danse spotted a figure.

‘CRASH’

There wasn’t time to think before a bolt of nearby lightning lit up the previously dark room. That’s when he saw her.

“Charlotte?” he whispered.

There was no response but it was in fact her. She wore her long white nightgown and a calm expression. He started to question if he was asleep or not at that moment. He’d had dreams of her looking like that, initiating somethings he just wished could happen. He itched to possibly act on it, but there was something amiss. A minute of them just looking at each other passed before he figured it out. The young woman was sleep walking. He could see it in her glassy eyes and how still she had her hands by her side. One of her habits she’d developed since exiting the vault was the need to be preoccupying her hands with something even as small as folding her arms in. They weren’t as twitchy as they’d been earlier either.

She inched forward slowly, expression staying static. He couldn’t do anything but watch her. Soon their distance was closed and she put a hand up to rest on his scarred cheek. Her light blue eyes were more doe-like than he’d ever seen. Anyone who’d never seen her before couldn’t begin to guess the hells she’d witnessed. One might even compared her to the women on the pre-war advertisements.

The corners of her mouth slowly morphed into a small smile. He wanted so very much to kiss her right then and there, grab her hips closer to his , but he knew better. She was probably dazed and confused him with her dead husband.

“You need to get back to bed.” He grunted softly.

In return all he got was a raised eyebrow.

“Honey, what’s the matter?” She hummed

God, she had no idea who she was talking with.

“Honey? I’m not… You’re sleep-walking. You need to get back to some real sleep, or you’ll be regretting it in the morning.”

Charlotte giggled and slid her other hand up to match the one on his other cheek. Danse felt like his face was going to catch on fire.

“Danse, you need to sleep more. I know it calms you down. Would it help if you had someone to sleep with?”

Wait. What?

“Sentinel, you need to get back to your room.” He started cautiously.

“Dansey” she sang “I hate when you call me that. It only makes me think you’re into that kind of stuff like that. I mean, it’d be a bonus if you were. I’d never object hearing you call that out if we were to-“

The synth shushed her by putting his hand over her mouth. His whole face was beet red now and he gave her a gentle push away before shaking his head.

“Jesus, woman, do you even know what you’re saying?”

Figuring she wasn’t going to stop anytime soon and wanted to settle down himself, he slung the woman over his shoulder. Charlotte would fight him if he made her walk, so he was sure this would be faster. It should’ve only take a minute to get her back in bed. Should.

Not five steps later did he heard her beautiful laugh and he realized she was grabbing his butt.

“C-can you stop that! That’s not appropriate, **Sentinel**!” he stammered out, trying not to get anything out of her touch.

“Oh _sir_ , how is this not appropriate? You should lemme near it more often. You know, I’ve seen a lot of asscheeks in all my 235 years, but my god, your’s is the best. Top-notch, honey.”

To get her to stop, he rushed to the room she was sleeping in and laid her down.

“You gonna get down here with me?” Charlotte tried to pull him down by his undershirt, only to have him swat her hand away.

“No! You don’t even know what you’re asking! J-just go to sleep and I’ll see you in the morning.”

A short smirk ran across her face.

“How about I let you touch me? Then would you get down here? You’d actually have a name to shout when you come.”

Danse was near his wits end with this woman. She was going to have to get to sleep soon. Did sleep-walking normally even last this long? He was going to need to grab a drink out of his pack if it went on much more.

“Goodnight, Charlotte.”

“Oh Danse, would you? Please? You know I love you. I know you want to join me.”

“ **Goodnight!** ” The ex-paladin practically screamed and stormed off back to the parlor where he’d been staying. Perhaps it wasn’t a drink he would need to calm down.

* * *

 

The sun was beginning its daily ascent in the Commonwealth sky when Charlotte awoke and began her day. For the first time in weeks she truly felt rested and ready to go. Maybe if her friend was feeling the same, they could get an early start. That meant that they’d have more time together. The proctor wanted her back within a week, so she was trying to stretch that time out as much as she could. Not knowing what the Elder had next in store for her, so the young woman wanted to tell him how she felt. He’d been left alone far too long.

Her thoughts raced back to the dream she had that night. She’d dreamed that he let her get close enough to embrace him, to soak up his scent, and even get to touch his fine ass. Now she only wished she could do it in reality. For the time being, she would be stuck with just imagining him.

While getting the coffee hot, her friend began to stir. She tried her hardest to wipe the redness from her face, but planned to excuse it with the steam from making breakfast. He’d caught her blushing before, but was convinced that it was because of some illness she might’ve picked up. The man never worried about himself enough she thought. He was going to get himself killed one day and she wouldn’t be able to make it to pick him up.

“Morning!” she sang out as he reached the kitchen of the cottage.

He didn’t look too cheerful that morning. She tried to ask him if something was wrong, but he brushed it off as just being tired. Charlotte knew he didn’t sleep well, so he might not have slept at all during the night.

“Jeez, I thought I told you before that you really need to get more sleep.” She muttered before taking a bite of fluffed-radscorpion egg.

She nearly choked on her food when she remembered that it’d been something she told him in her dream. Trying to gain composure, she tried to cough and look for a napkin. Suddenly her eyes wandered over to the other side of the table she was eating at. Danse had sit down and apparently been in the process of getting a sip of coffee, but was staring at her, coffee cup inches from his face, a panicked look in his eyes.

“I-I might be mistaken though..” She quickly added.

It didn’t take long for her friend to ease up and when Charlotte was done eating, she got the feeling that they could finally talk. They needed a game plan anyhow. Something to stick to if things got weird between the two of them.

“I think there’s a military depot nearby. We could probably scavenge up some ammo and circuitry from there. Then we’re going to need to-”

“I don’t want to interrupt you, but do you mind if I ask you something a bit….personal?”

“Something wrong, Danse?”

“Do you happen to know if you’ve sleep-walked before?”

“Not that I can remember. Why?” She raised a brow.

“Do you remember last night? If we’re going anywhere I want to at least know if you know what happened.”

“I had a dream, but that’s all I remember….Did anything else happen?”

At this point the woman was starting to get real nervous. How much of that dream wasn’t totally a dream, but her half-awake?

“You were uh sleep-walking. Pretty strongly. You did tell me to get more sleep.” Poor Danse’s face was getting quite flush. She wondered how much he wasn’t telling her.

“Oh, god. Did I approach you, um, a bit closely?”

“You grabbed my ass.” He said flatly.

Charlotte nearly collapsed from the shock, but was saved by the arms of the synth.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I-I just thought I was dreaming like I normally – Oh my god, no I don’t dream about that. I uh, uhhh…” She was going into a panic attack and he could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

He dug his fingers into her wavy, black hair and shushed her before bringing her in closer. Part of his instincts were telling him to let her go, others went back to their conversation about Haylen. He supposed this could qualify as a time she needed to be held.

“It was a dream. You can’t control those kind of things. I shouldn’t have brought it up, I’m sorry, Char, I really am.”

“I-I am just so fond of you, I’d never imagine it would turn like that. If you want to forget it, it might be for the best.”

“Obviously they didn’t program me to be able to do a thing like that. Not that I would if I could. I’d never give my memories of our time together for anything.”

“God damn it, Danse.” She gave him a brief pause by looking off somewhere before returning to give her full gaze back to him. “I love you.”

He released her with eyes wide, total surprise. 

“You can’t be. After all the things drilled into you during training it shouldn’t be possible. I’m not human, I’m an abomination.”

“You’re not a machine to me, but something much much more important. Sometimes I think you’re more human than me.”

“I don’t know what to say. If I really was human, wouldn’t it be a hell of a lot easier to figure out?”

“No matter what you think, it doesn’t mean anything to me if you have a heart or some metal components. You’ve always been Danse to me and nothing the brotherhood could tell would make me feel any different.”

“Well, coming from you that means more than you’d ever guess. I’m not going to be good with expressing myself and this definitely going to be a hard path. With you by my side though, I think I can make it work because I love you too.”

The two looked at each other a minute before Charlotte pulled him in closer for a deep kiss. Perhaps that dream had been just what they needed. Perhaps it’s what got the Sole Survivor in trouble for “taking her time” getting the parts for Liberty Prime. Perhaps it signaled the beginning of a new era in their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry about the cheesy ending, but I certainly hope you all like it. Any constructive criticism is much appreciated!


End file.
